Glassworking apparatus



P 1946. D.-E. GRAY 2,398,525

GLASSWORKING APPARATUS Filed May 8,- -1942 5 Sheets-Sheet l ifnhzntur finwp A. Gen Y Qttumrp April 16, 1946. D. E. GRAY GLASSWORKING APPARATUS 5 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed May 8, 1942 (Ittomeg Patented Apr. 16, 1946 GLASSWORKINGv APPARATUS David E. Gray, Corning, N. Y., assignor to Corning Glass Works, Corning, N. Y., a corporation of New York Application May 8, 1942, Serial No. 442,241

' 8 Claims.

The present invention is directed to apparatus especially suitable for reheating and reshaping of glass parts and also for fusing glass parts to one another to produce articles of configurations not readily produced by other methods.

The invention is, by way of example, embodied in a structure suitable for performing glazing operations.

In the drawings,

Fig. 1 is a side elevation, partly in section, of a structure embodyin the invention;

Fig. la is an enlarged side elevation, in section, of a. fragment of the structure of Fig. 1;

Fig. 2 is an enlarged fragmentary view, partly in section, of apparatus of Fig. 1 but with th parts shown in different position;

Fig. 2a shows a fragment of a sheet of glass and a sectional plan view of an electrode;

Fig. 3 is a sectional view taken on line 3-3 of Fig. 1;

Fig. 4 isa sectional elevation along line 44 of Fig. 3;

Fig. 5 is a view partly in section of the apparatus of Fig. 2 shown in a different operating position.

The apparatus includes a suitable upstanding frame having a kiln I2 arranged intermediate its ends adapted to be heated to any desired temperature by a plurality of heating elements such as the element I3 shown, connected through automatic temperature control mechanism to a suitable source of electric energy.

' Arranged in the lower part of frame I is a base.

|4 supporting a tubular column |5.surrounded by a sleeve |6 pivotally supported on a hand lever 24 and having web members I! which accommodate rods IB. Rods I8 pass through the bottom wall of kiln I2 and within the kiln support a vacuum chuck I3 having a face 2| composed of a highly refractory electric insulating material. A

pipe 22 and a flexible hose 23 are employed to' establish communication between the chuck l9 and a suitable vacuum line (not shown). By disconnecting pipe 22 from the chuck I9 the same can readily be lifted from rods l8 and replaced with another. Lowering or raising of the chuck |9 can be accomplished by actuation of hand lever 24 .which issuspended from the back of frame II by a link 25 and movably held to the front of the frame I I by a latch 26.

Arranged in the upper part of frame H is a bridge member 3| held -by adjusting screws 28'. A tubular guide shaft 32 depends from member 3| into the kiln and has a chuck 33 removably attached thereto in a manner made evident hereinaiter. Chuck 33 is provided with a refractory face 34 of insulating material and is aligned over chuck l9. By suitable adjustment of member 3| the face 34 can be brought into a plane parallel 5 to that occupied by face 2|. Shaft 32 at its upper end is-connected with a hose 35 in communication with a vacuum line (not shown). Surrounding shaft 32 is a sleeve 36 pivotally supported at its upper end on a hand lever 31 suspended from m a link 38 attached to a bridge member 3|. ,The

lower end of sleeve 36 is surrounded by a flange 51 integral therewith and adapted to fit into the hub of a lever supporting and actuating spider 40 having cleats 46 (Figs. 2, 3, and 4) integral therewith. Wedges 54 driven between cleats 48 and flange 51 hold the spider 40 rigidly to the sleeve 36, while enabling easy removal thereof and replacement even while the parts are hot. As will be apparent from an inspection of the drawings the chuck 33 is attached to member 32 in a similar manner. Lever supporting and actuating spider 40 has pierced ears 4| from which links 42 are suspended. The lower ends of links 42 are pivotally attached to folding bar supports 43 which at 44 are pivotally connected to the lower ends oflinks 45 which have their upper ends pivotally connected to upright supports 46 forming part of the chuck 33. Although the links 42 and 45 prevent turning movement of the spider 40 relative to the chuck 33 alignment is positively maintained by a vertical guide post 49 threaded into one of the upright supports 46 and extendingupward through :an aperture through spider 40.

Attached to the under side of supports 43 are folding bars 50 and 5| certain ones of which have depending sheet aligning fingers 52. The couplings between the links 42, supports 43 and links 45 are such that as the sleeve 36 is lowered, supports 43 are moved inward toward the chuck 33 until links engage pads 41 formed on the uprights 46. If an appropriate size sheet of glass is being held by chuck 33 the above described movement of supports 43 b'rings bars and 5| 45 adjacent and slightly above the edges of the sheet.

As lowering of sleeve 36 continues link 45 remains stationary and accordingly the supports 43 turn about their pivots 44 away from engagement of their back stops with links 45 and are 50 brought to a stop by engagement of their steps 53 with links 45. As an inspection of Fig. 4 will show during this second stage of operation of supports 43 the folding bars 50 and 5| move through the path required to perform a folding 55 operation. Also the above describedmovement of bars 50 and the rear bar 5| brings fingers 52 into a vertical position enabling them to perform a sheet aligning function as will be brought out later.

The levers 24 and 31 opposite their handle ends are connected together with a slotted link 39 which serves to actuate lever 37 to raise sleeve 36 in case lever 24 is actuated to raise chuck it when the sleeve 36 is in its down position. This removes the danger of damage to fingers 52 or to glass on platen 2| by fingers 52 as might occur were it possible to raise the platen into engagement with the fingers.

Also arranged in the upper part of frame it is an electrode supporting frame 60 suspended from a balanced lever M by means of which the frame can be raised and lowered at will. An arm St has one end pivoted to frame ii and the other end pivoted to frame till a distance below the pivoted connection of lever iii to keep frame to level. The upper end of frame til is bridged by strips of electrical insulation till through which electrodes pass down through bushings 62 at the lower end of the frame and downward through bushings in the upper wall of kiln it a distance depending upon the setting of collars 65 se cured to the electrodes 53 and resting upon bushinus til. The passages through the bushings in the wall or kiln it through which electrodes pass are of such size as to provide ample clearance for the unobjectionable slight arcuate movement of the electrodes which occurs as they are being raised or lowered, A door 64 gives access to the interior of kiln it? and is provided with a window lit to enable an operator to observe the operations being carried out within the kiln with the door closed.

In employing the foregoing apparatus in the production of a double glazed cell, two sheets of glass it and "M (Fig. l) are arranged on chuck face it with lever ill raised slightly from the position. it is shown in Fig. 1 at which time finaers iii will not quite have reached the vertical position in which they areshown in Figs. 1 and a, so that the sheets iii and H can readily be placed on the chuck and moved toward the rear thereoi until stopped by the rear fingers 51'. With sheets l0 and Ti so placed. on chuck it the completion of the lowering oi lever 31 will cause fingers 52 to attain their vertical position, moving with them sheets l0 and l! as necessary to bring them into exact vertical alignment. The lower ends of fingers 52 are cut back at 52' a distance corresponding to the difference in size of sheets 10 and H so that with fingers 52 in the vertical position the bounding edges of the upper sheet are uniformly spaced within the bounding edges of the lower sheet. The lever 31 should next be lifted to bring fingers 52 to the position illustrated in Fig. 2, to prepare for the transfer of sheet 70 to chuck 33. The transfer is accomplished by first applying vacuum to both chucks and then raising lever 24 until sheet 10 is engaged and seized by chuck 33 after which lever 24 is returned to its lowermost position. Should the operator fail to raise lever 31 prior to raising lever 24 lever 31 will be automatically raised by link 38 as lever 24 is raised, as already described.

The lever Si is next shifted as required to brine, the electrodes 63 into contact with the edge surface of the cutaway corners of sheet 10, as illus-- trated in Fig. 2a and the necessary current applied to heat and soften the marginal portions of sheet HI. When the marginal edges of the sheet have become suitably plastic the current supply till is cut oil and lever 31 lowered to move the folding bars 50 and 5| from the positions shown in Fig. 2 to those shown in Fig. 4 after which lever 31 is again raised to restore the bars to the position shown in Fig. 2. The sheet 70 is thus formed into a shallow inverted container in readiness to be sealed to the upper surface of sheet ll. Seal ing' is accomplished by moving lever 24 as required to raise sheet it into contact with the down turned edges of sheet 10 followed by application of the necessary sealing current to electrode 63. Pulling of the seal and freeing of the electrodes from the completed unit can be readily accomplished by proper manipulation of levers BI and 2t.

To prepare for the removal of a completed unit from kiln 2i chuck 33 is connected to atmosphere and chuck it lowered and connected to atmosphere. Removal of the unit may now be readily effected by its seizure with a portable vacuum chuck which can conveniently be employed to transfer the unit to a suitable annealing lehr.

Although in the foregoing there has been shown and described the preferred embodiment of my invention as designed for use in producing double glazed cells of a simple form, it should be understood that changes in the details of construction and combination of parts to render the same suitable for sealing other forms of articles may be resorted to without departing from the spirit and scope of my invention as claimed.

What I claim is:

l. Ina glass working apparatus, a kiln, a pair of vertically aligned chucks arranged within the kiln, and means associated with the upper chuck Ior shifting an article arranged on the lower chuck to a predetermined position with respect to said chucks.

In a glass working apparatus, a kiln, a pair of vertically ali ned chucks arranged within the kiln, means associated with the upper chuck for shifting an article arranged on the lower chuck to a predetermined position with respect to said chucks, and means for manipulating said lower chuck totransier the article to the upper chuck.

In a glass working apparatus, a kiln, a. pair of vertically aligned chucks arranged Within the kiln, means associated with the upper chuck for shifting an article arranged on the lower chuck to a predetermined position with respect to said chucks, a plurality of electrodes, and means for moving said electrodes into contact with Predetermined surface areas of an article held by one of said chucks.

i. In a glass working apparatus, a kiln, a pair of vertically aligned chucks arranged within the kiln, means associated with the upper chuck for shifting an article arranged on the lower chuck to a predetermined position with respect to said chucks, a plurality of electrodes arranged around said upper chuck, and meansfor bringing s'aid electrodes into contact with edge surfaces of an article associated with said upper chuck.

5. In a glass working apparatus, a vacuum chuck arranged to hold a. sheet 01' glass flatwise in a horizontal plane, electrodes arranged for association with edge portions of the sheet adapted to supply current to heat the marginal portions of the sheet to plasticity, folding bars arranged above the marginal portions of the sheet, and means for swinging said bars down over the edges of the sheet in such a manner that they fold the marginal portions into a plane normal to that of the sheet.

6. In a glass working apparatus. a vertically a,see,sas

disposed tubular member having a chuck arranged on its lower end adapted to hold a sheet of glass flatwise in a horizontal plane, means associated with said chuck for heating a marginal portion or a glass sheet held by said chuck to plasticity, a sleeve surrounding said member, a mechanical linkage extending between said chuck and sleeve, a glass reshaping element carried by said linkage, and means for effecting relative movement between said sleeve and chuck tpactuate said linkage to move said shaping element to reshape the heated marginal portion 01 the., sheet.

7. In a glass working apparatus, a kiln, j vertically aligned chucks arranged to hold sheets of glass flatwise in horizontal planes within said kiln, means external of the kiln for moving one of said chucks with respectto the other whereby a sheet in one chuck can be brought into "-contact with a sheet in the other chuck, meanstor heating the marginal edges of a sheet of glass held by the upper chuck until such edges sag toward thesheet of glass in the lower chuck. implements within said kiln for folding the softened marginal edges of the upper sheet into planes normal to the sheet. and means external to said kiln for operating said implements, the means-tor heating being also available for i'using together the two sheets of glass after being brought into contact with one another.

8. In a glass working apparatus, a kiln,,a pair of aligned'chucks within said kiln. fingers within said kiln, means including a manually operable device for moving said fingers to align sheets of glass associated with one otgsaid chucks-in a predetermined lateral position with respect theremvm sonar. 

